Foam soap dispensers are used in public restrooms and other areas. They may be automatic or manually operated. Foam soap dispensers generally form foam by mixing a stream of liquid soap with a stream of air in a mixing chamber under force or pressure. In order to obtain a more homogenous texture of foam, the mixed stream of liquid soap and air is passed through a mesh (or screen) in the mixing chamber to generate the foam. The liquid soap is supplied to the chamber using a pump. Similarly, the air is supplied to the mixing chamber by either using a type of pump or by sucking the ambient air into the mixing chamber and mixing it with the liquid soap stream, as is the case in manually operating soap dispensers. As can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, a soap dispenser 10 may be mounted on a counter 12. A reservoir 14 for the liquid soap and the air source 16 may be mounted or located a distance away from the actual dispensing location (i.e. the dispensing opening or outlet) 18 of a dispenser spout 20. In one type of setting, the dispenser spout 20 typically has a dispensing opening 18 which dispenses the foam. In hands-free operation type of foam dispensers, a sensor such as an infrared sensor 22, is mounted proximate the tip of the dispenser. The sensor 22 senses a user's hand underneath the dispenser, and sends a signal to a controller 24, such as a microprocessor, which in turn sends a signal to operate a pump 28 for pumping the liquid soap from the reservoir 14 and to a pump 27 for pumping the air from a source 30 air into a mixing chamber 32. The controller may be coupled to a power source 25, such as a battery or an electricity source for powering the controller, sensor and/or the pumps. In order to obtain a better texture of foam, one or more screens 34 (typically two or three screens) are placed in the mixing chamber 32. The meshes can become clogged with towel fibers, debris and dried soap. As the meshes become clogged, the quality of the foam and the texture of the foam decreases. Eventually, the screens become completely clogged thus, prevent the dispensing of foam. As the meshes can be under the counter and/or within the soap dispenser, they may be difficult to access for cleaning. For example, with some foam dispensers generally a “skirt” or removable panel is used under the counter to cover the plumbing fixtures and subsequently the soap dispenser from view of the user. This creates difficulty for maintenance personnel to replace components or to access and clean the meshes as such panels have to be removed. Moreover, with many foam dispensers, as the type of liquid soap that is used is varied so is the quality foam produced.
Consequently, a more robust foam dispenser is desired that can produce a more consistent quality of foam even when different types of liquid soap are used.